wer plants. this is the potential. reducing co2 emissions by up to 90%... while also producing more power. this could be big. energy lives here. >> i'm wolf blitzer and it's 1:00 in washington. from wherever you are watching, thank you for joining us. republicans hitting the home stretch on there $1.5 trillion house plan. the deal is mostly set and putting it together. they reached agreements including lowering the top individual rate to 37% from 39.6%. setting the corporate rate at 21% down from 35%. we agreed on state and local tax deductions and lowering the estate tax threshold and eliminating the health care individual mandate from one big

hurdle that needings to be clear, the final votes that includes questions about the health of the arizona senator, john mccain. phil matingly is closely watching this. phil, we get to the votes in a moment. but first, what response are you hearing with the deal? >> mostly republicans are trying to digest things. this is moving at a very, very quick clip. the proposal has not been unveiled. republican leaders say good about where they will end up. the mentioned the state and local tax deduction expand and that hit a lot of concerns from republicans in states like new jersey and new york and most importantly california. they feel good about where that is. there is no question about it. the details matter a tremendous amount. not just for congress, but everybody in the country. until all of the details are out, it's likely you won't know where things are going to end up.

the expectation has been and will continue to be in the days ahead that they will move on this. on monday. they expect to have this to the president's desk. what's going to be in the 500 plus pages that you noted? i want to get more specifics on the proposed deal and get back to you in a moment. he's the tax and economics reporter for the "new york times." lots of questions about where this goes. they now set it at 21%. the president wanted 15 and agreed to 20 and there was talk of 22 and it's down to 21. >> it emerged as an important place because they needed money. they wanted to assuage concerns and 21 seemed to be the resting point and the president said he

was okay with it. >> what about the highest individual rate going down to 37%? >> this was a little bit of a surprise. neither the senate or the house bill came down this far. there were complaints from higher income people who thought they were not getting enough out of this bill. it appear to be a response to that and now it's 37% and a tax cut for the highest earners. >> the highest on sensitive issues with deductions and graduate school and student low deductions and teacher spending. a lot of folks are really concerned. >> we don't know all the provisions, but we know some of them. for example, on tuition waivers, they will not be taxed. the house had made that taxable and people were in fact very worried about. in most cases what we have seen

the tie goes to the senate bill. the medical expense deduction that is the house eliminated. >> stand by and i want to go back to capitol hill. the senate vote is really the focus right now. two senators have been missing votes due to health related issues. the others are still considered on the fence even though they voted yes. the vice president is postponing a trip it israel and egypt. where does all this stand? >> you have to look at it through the context of the razor thin majority. only 52 votes they will neat with the vice president. being able to cast the tie breaking vote. they have that related outside the tax bill. jeff flake had issues on the

phase out of the expensing. where that ends upstanding. marco rubio has long been considered a solid yes vote and has concerns about the refundability of the child tax credit. he voted against the plan on deficit reasons. those have not changed. the reasons the deficits would create have not changed at any point. he is expected to be a no and saying he is looking at the proposal. the key issue is the health of the two senators. thad cochran and john mccain. he fully planned on being back to vote on the tax bill next week. he is in washington right now. that's the expectation. is at walter reed hospital recoveringing for the treatment he is getting for his cancer diagnosis. there is no eta and he is trying to get back as soon as possible. because of that, the idea has been the senate would go first. they have tougher rules and more restrictive rules. the best case scenario is they

push it through first. that is now an open question according to speaker paul ryan. take a listen. >> it's all about timing and managi managing absences. we are simply being flexible. >> the tight timeline and this is an artificial one that they set themselves. the large magnitude of the items they expect to deal with by the end of that. they plan to move this early when it comes to the tax proposal. that's where the absences are. i will say that according to the house and senate officials and the negotiators are confident the votes will be here. as of now, there is still work to do. >> you think the votes will go

monday and tuesday and wednesday of next week. with the house and the senate? >> the plan over the last six or seven days, the senate to go on monday and the house to follow on tuesday. a bill signing at the white house by wednesday. the big question that we are hearing right now if other senators are absent and the votes are not there, perhaps the house goes first and that raises serious issues based on whether or not the bill kind of falls into place related to senate rules. they wanted the senate to go first and the preference is for the senate to go first. that's the question whether that is she resolved or solved all together before we know the step by step process. there is no question, the white house and leaders on capitol hill expect the bill to be at the white house for signing ceremony likely on wednesday. >> we will see if it is. thanks very much. thanks to you as well.

president trump may be on the verge of his firstledge legislative win. most americans don't like the tax bill in a poll. just 26% approve of the plan and the president's own approval rating is at historic lows. the monmouth poll is at 32%. what does all this mean into 2018? let's talk about that and more of the washington bureau chief and the chief political analyst, gloria borger. it's not popular if you believe the polls even though the president and the republicans keep saying to the american people especially the middle class will be paying a lot less tax. >> if you look deeper into the numbers, the people who have problems with it are democrats and independent voters. what you see from the white house is really a base strategy. appeal to the base.

our voters want this tax cut. they believe it's going to help them and that's what they are doing. going into 2018 and i harken back to 20 sdpen bra18 and bara. their base wanted the affordable care act and they gave it to them and barack obama lost 63 seats in the house. >> we all remember that. >> the reason it's not that popular is because a lot of americans have accepted this notion that this is a tax plan and tax cuts will benefit the wealthy and the corporations and not necessarily them. >> here's the gamble they are making. the tax cut will do what they predict to improve the economy. if you see a great economy going into the mid-terms, that does a lot to help republicans in a tough year. if it doesn't, that's a problem. this is not just an unpopular bill, but the least popular bill

that has been passed by congress in terms of a major bill in the past 30 years. it makes obamacare look popular. that was about 10 points higher than the tax cut bill is now. this is an enormous risk on the part of republicans. >> where does the alabama senate race loss for roy moore fit into all of this? >> i think you can argue it puts the senate more in play here. look, the democrats have an uphill senate. but you do see a motivated democratic base. you do see a 40% turn out in the state of alabama in this election on a random tuesday. you do see that the base is much more motivated than the

republicans. you do see the slippage among empty voters. this is the kind of environment wing seeing going into 2018. >> is it likely to have the short-term and the loss for the republicans in alabama on what's going to happen with the tax cuts. >> it makes it more likely it goes through. the republicans are looking at going into the mid-terms having achieved no major legislative victory. they control the house, the senate, and the white house. that's why there is no momentum behind a bill with many details. we don't know how it hits to $1.5 trillion. there are a lot of important details about the bill that have not been explored and analyzed. >> don't forget, it's going to take effect quickly. there are going to be unintended consequences that people suddenly see.

and that can play out and there may be members who are less afraid of taking on donald trump. there may be numbers like a flake or corker who is leaving anyway or a collins although she seems to be predisposed to vote for this. they may be saying he may not hurt me as much. with this divided party, it makes it more complicated. you have steve bannon who is talking about challenging republicans in primaries next year. you have the mcconnell faction that is you should fire and succeeded in a way. it's a sign that the republicans count it as a victory. defeated for the senate.

maybe $1.5 trillion that according to the budget office. these nonpartisan auditors yet they are willing to go along with it. it's not paid for. >> it's a sign of how donald trump redefined what the republican party stands for. this is not the party of discipline or free trade. it is the party of trump. that meant fundamental differences on issues like that. >> are you surprised by it? >> the deficit hawks go along and come up with the motion of being dynamic scoring and the economy will be great. >> first of all, you see bob corker and that's the issue that he is hanging back on.

donald trump said i promise to move the embassy in israel. i promised to cut taxes. i haven't been able to deliver on health care and i top the do whey promise i would do. they promised it too. >> a lot of them promise deregulation and other related issues. this is going to be a huge vote. we will see if it happens. thanks very, very much. we expect by the way to hear from the white house press secretary sarah sanders and we will get live pictures. ares started coming in and we will have live coverage coming up later this hour. meanwhile the russian president vladimir putin derives espionage mania when he said moscow tried to influence the u.s. presidential election. a live report from moscow when we come back.

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breaking news we are following right now. we have been watching the republican-led commission where the commissioners just voted on the future of how the internet is going to be regulated. a panel voted along party lines to repeal net neutrality that were designed to keep the internet open and fair. the republicans said it stifles innovation. the fcc voting along party lines 3-2 to repeal net neutrality. laurie segal explains how all of this will affect you. >> what is net neutrality? it has nothing to do with a

volleyball or tennis court. it is something as necessary as water and power for most of us. the neutrality part is about keeping the way it is today. it's a set of rules that went into effect in 2015 to prevent speeding up access to some sites and slowing down to others. or blocking certain sites entirely. are the rules a bad thing? the companies that deliver your internet like comcast and at&t spent millions to get rid of net neutrality. having the government micromanage their business is not good. internet giants like facebook and google and former president obama. they all argue it's a public good and should be regulated like one and say that companies that own the pipeline can play

favorites. for example, a provider like netflix is in competition with comcast that owns nbc universal and controls access to the internet for 20 million customers. nbc would want to speed up and slow down their rivals like netflix. they can afford to pay for the fast line. it's worth more than $70 billion, but the start ups can't. >> lauery y laurie, a signific development. will the vote be challenged? >> i am almost positive it will. the stakes are so high and you had so many folks speaking out against this. i covered technology and look at the tech company who is have been very outspoken about the stakes. they had the teleconindustry

that get ready for daily business. you have the tech companies on the other end who say this gives internet providers too much power and control over the way online content is delivered and created a tiered internet. we will see that challenged and we heard a lot of controversy ahead of the vote. they went out on the website and asked for a public opinion. they wanted the public to weigh in and they showed you had 20 million comments and millions of comments were fake. you had a democratic lawmaker calling for them to delay the vote and they didn't. this is the beginning of a longer process, but the stakes are very high. the regulations were put into place in 2017 under the obama administration to ensure a fair and open internet. it depends who you are asking, but this is just the beginning of what we are hearing. it's a big day for all of us as internet consumers. >> forget about whether or not

it will be challenged, when will this decision or 3-2 vote by the i fcc go into effect? >> we will have to see about the legal challenges and see what happens. i don't think we will see anything right now, but net neutrality is something that has been tough for folks to understand and people don't know too much about it. why it's important to talk about it is it does impact all of us and how we browse the internet. we think about now under the current rules as they were. the way you watch amazon and humo hulu. it would allow companies to charge us more money to make streaming videos faster. it could as many of the companies create a tiered internet. this is a big moment. we will hear a lot more in the coming weeks. we have seen protests and it

won't be long before we hear from the big tech companies. facebook and google will be weighing in shortly after today's vote. >> we will be getting a lot of reaction and have all of that and see how it impacts the average person out there. thank you so much. reporting for us on a significant development. we may be hearing about this at the white house briefing that is coming up. sarah sanders getting ready to answer reporters's questions. we will have live coverage of the daily briefing here on cnn that starts later this hour. the russian president vladimir putin derives espionage mania with moscow trying to influence the u.s. presidential election. a live report from moscow when we come back.

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the russian president vladimir putin offers kind words for president donald trump. he spoke about what he calls serious achievements by president trump. he made the comments during the annual end of the year news conference. putin also took a shot at the investigation over possible collusion between the trump team and russia. listen. >> this is dreamed up by people in opposition to trump so others think he is illegitimate. they are working against the interest of their own country and against the duley elected president of the country. >> phil sblak joblack is joinine from moscow. what else did we hear?

what else did we hear about the relations. >> vladimir putin talked about a sense of hysteria and mania on this issue, but beyond that he had largely warned against it. he talked about achievements and he was asked to give a-year report card on trump's first year in office. he referred specifically to the performance of america's markets. he said that's a vote of confidence in the economy and it shows confidence in the man who is guiding that economy, donald trump. he went on to say he hopes donald trump makes good on one of his election promises and that is to improve relations with russia. putin believes that would be good for russia and good for the u.s. and good for the world.

the fight against terrorism and climate change. >> he spent time flattering the president. did putin address the threat from north korea? >> he did and they went on to blame the u.s. for the sense of insecurity. his desire to meet with officials without preconditions and putin said it's a good idea. it's common sense. phil black in moscow for us. new reporting from "the washington post" that is raising serious questions about president trump and russia's interference in the 2016 u.s. elections. despite evidence that included an extraordinary stream of

intelligence that captured the scientific instructions on the operation. the president refused to publicly acknowledge the information given to him before he assumed office. rather than search for ways to deter kremlin attacks or safeguard election, trump waged a campaign to des credit the case to pose any threat. he resisted efforts to hold moscow to account. all that from "the washington post." let's discuss this and more. i'm joined by the chief national security. we know about the president's reluctance to blame russia for blaming them in the elections. it has been a consistent pattern. >> they had a million opportunities and it's a serious

problem and i will do something about it. the president has deflect and deferred and undermine and called it a hoax repeatedly. >> a lot of alignments and what we just heard putin say. >> this is drummed up by the political opponents. >> even though the president gets the briefings from the cia from the national security agency from the national security counsel and the defense department. at the higher level. it's not getting in and not registering. it's out right rejected. that's a pollicization that is so concerning.

the public in questioning that judgment is at the same time publicly questioning the capabilities. >> he thinks that any time they raise the issue that we call a hoax or a witch hunt, it undermines his election. >> how many other things do you have to question with the fight against terrorism. >> what we know is happening right now. >> democratic and republican members on the hill who see this intelligence and russia and other countries are probing u.s. election systems as 2018 and 2020. this is not a past problem. it is a current and future problem. >> the sanctions in august overwhelmingly passed new sanctions because of the interference in the u.s. presidential election. now that we are in december and i understand the sanctions really -- the president signed

it into law and posted bitterly, but he had no choice. if he would have vetoed the legislation, what's the delay? >> what is going on. they have been consistent and it's a complicated process because there are u.s. companies involve and they need to get the guidance out legally for everyone that caused delay and they are ending for the end of january. that's the last we heard. >> the trouble is that there are questions about the whole of government response. the cyber security world and the republicans and democrats who look at the threat from russia and other countries including the election system. is it to truly deter and prevent and protect, you need a whole of government response. without the leadership, that is extremely difficult and arguably impossible to have the response. >> while i have you, rex

tillerson said one thing that they are ready for a dialogue. the white house pushes him back. they push him back. >> he clearly stated he was willing to talk without preconditions. he used the words and said let's just talk about the weather if you want. the white house and others saying he didn't mean it that way. nothing changed in policy. and you have to go back to what tillerson said. even after he said he would welcome it, there were

preconditions. they would have to go talks going on. the containment is not an option. he sees it working out and bringing north korea to the table. >> it's confusing not only for the adversary. we will get to fill in a moment. very quickly on this north korea thing. on the dialogue with north korea, there is a dialogue under way with the north korean leadership. the deputy secretary general of the united nations, an american,

a career u.s. diplomats and ambassador, he was just there last week at the invitation of the north koreans. he went without preconditions and had a dialogue with them. with the foreign minster and others. clearly the ambassador who is the u.s. deputy secretary general of the un would not go unless he had a dialogue with washington. >> this falls under what you would call track two. not official and not government to government. someone who might be american, but not representing america. >> it wasn't secretive and a diplomatic back channel. everyone saw him meeting with north korean officials in pyongyang. >> they served with emissary and outside of official capacity like a bill clinton to negotiate the freedom of u.s. hostages there.

it would be a difference certainly. it would be quite a major development. >> even the people involved in this have been talking publicly about them. they are worried that the window of time is closing. >> we will take a quick break and have important news he will share with us. we will have that after a quick break.

we have breaking news on the future of the house speaker paul ryan. we want to go to phil matingly. what are you and the team learning? >> this is coming from our colleague, john king and dierdra walsh and myself. the speaker made clear over the last couple of months since before he was speaker of the house as he was named to replace

john boehner that this was not the job he wanted. he did take the job, but he has been having discussions with his close confidants about the possible of leaving congress at the end of this term. it's worth noting that the speaker earlier today walked out of the capitol said this. >> thank you very much. >> you are not quitting any time soon? >> the speaker's office saying he doesn't plan on leaving, but for the context here. this part is important. the speaker made clear repeatedly that his dream job is the house ways and means chairman. he was a policy guy and that's where he wanted to focus. the idea of leadings and wrangling the house was not something he wanted to do. the big question is if republicans complete the tax overhaul, something that has long be the speakers, will he be willing to end his time after that point. i want to note this is coming or

our reporting is coming in the wake of a politico reporter that these considerations are a possibility. something that might happen. i must say the speaker said he is not going anywhere at this point, but these are conversations that have occurred. the realities are that the job takes quite a toll on his family. the speaker noted that publicly and the job itself is a complex and difficult at that. as of now, no final decision has been made, but as we reported, those conversations have occurred and i will note that they have also in the rumors about the conversations and stories about the conversations have percolated throughout the house republican conference and people figuring out what might come next or who. there are no hard answers to the questions right now, but they are out there and the conversations are happening, wolf. >> lots of talk and discussion about this. thank you very much. let's bring in our panel and our cnn politics reporter and editor at large. lauren fox is with us and our analyst gloria borger is with us

as well. i want to read for the speaker. this is pure speculation as the speaker himself said he is not going anywhere any time soon. >> that's a non-denial denial. any time soon. pure speculation. right now. the speaker is somebody and it has been no secret who was a reluctant speaker as phil was saying. he was nervous about the job and impact on his family. he was quite nervous about dealing with the right in the party. the same conservatives that gave him trouble on the affordable care act and the repealing of that. i don't think the job has gotten easier with donald trump. he was reluctant to endorse that. it was an uneasy relationship. he doesn't like to explain the president's tweets and it's doi

difficult to work hand in glove with the president. he is a young man and cares about tax reform. he would like entitlement reform, but the president says no to that and he wouldn't do that. you put all that together and it makes a lot of sense. >> from social security benefits. he said he wouldn't touch it. a lot of republican who is would like to touch it. >> including ryan. >> i think the speaker ryan said he was a are you lukt ant speaker and not someone who wanted the job. he wrote so many pieces up on capitol hill about how concerned he was about getting back and forth to his family. he has a young family and this is a difficult job. you have to be out there campaigning and fund-raising for other members of the conference. it's not just him and tax reform is what paul ryan loves. he was the ways and means chairman and he was reluctant to leave the job. the fact that they are close and right at the end here means that

maybe he is more willing to answer that he has done a lot as a speaker and has a legacy. >> inside, jason alexander's character has a habit of telling a funny joke and said that's it, i'm out. you have to go out on top. tax reform, given what they have out lined, tax reform may be as good as it gets for the head of the congressional wing of the republican party with two more years of donald trump in the white house. i will remind people after 2018, it's a 50-50 shot that paul ryan has a speakership to lead. some n some ways it's saying i thought about retiring before we lost congress. after alabama and the 2017 elections in virginia, after you have polling that suggesting a random democrat and 15 points ahead of a random republican that suggests which way the wind is blowing, there may not be

that job for him to lead. it's a job that never really wanted because his kids are getting older, but not college age yet. one other thing, if he wants to run for president, being the speaker of the house is not necessarily your best bet to do that. i wrote at the top, i didn't think it was the smartest move for him to take the speaker respect. it's a hard and fractured job for the party. >> he is tied to donald trump in more ways than i think he would like. >> he has no choice. >> he is the leader of the republicans and that caused problems for people who supported him before and would like to see him run for president. establishing the distance that you talk about may be to his benefit. >> one other thing i think with him is that the paul ryan and they see him all the time, the paul ryan republican party is

entitlement reform, deficit hawkishness. the donald trump republican party has nothing to do with either. it's the opposite of those two things. the paul ryan republican party is not where this -- it's not roy moore. it's certainly not where the party seems to be moving. that may be another reason to pull the cord. >> tax reform was the middle ground for trump and paul ryan and moving beyond that, entitlement reform is likely not going to be that marriage again. >> at today's news conference, he was asked about the fact and it's hard to believe he is the speaker of the house. he sleeps when he is in washington in his office. he has a cot in there. he doesn't have an apartment. but he does. he would much rather be in wisconsin with his wife and kids instead of in washington doing what he is doing.

>> who are knows what he would do next. whether it involves campaigning for political office. he describes himself as policy monger. he is and cares about policy. he is working with the president who cares about winning. paul ryan cares about other stuff. he disagrees with the president and a lot of republicans in his own caucus. he may, as you point out, they need to lose 24 seats. and tax reform could hurt them in the next election. >> one other thing to add, gloria used the word reluctant speaker. a lot of politicians have that. i am getting so many calls and having covered that, the post john boehner, post kevin mccarthy and paul ryan is our on only choice. he very much did not want to do this. did not top the do the

fund-raising and the travel. he has young children and understood what it took. we shouldn't be terribly surprised that it's running in 2018 or 2020. he is not going to be the speaker for 40 years. >> the house majority leader, he was asked by reporters when the news started to spread. he said i they were talking about. and he said he didn't think it was true. speaker is not retiring. where did you get that from? >> nobody is saying that. phil isn't saying that. he says he is having serious conversations close to him about possibility. >> if they lose a lot of seats, it would make him more likely, although you don't want to go out that way. >> we'll continue to stay on top of this story. we have live pictures coming in from the white house briefing room.

the press secretary sarah sanders getting ready to come to the lectern any moment. she will have a statement and answer reporters questions. we'll have that and a lot more right after this.

republican senator john mccain, in the hospital for side effect from his extensive cancer treatment. the senator was diagnosed with aggressive brain tumor over the past few months the senator's office says what he's experiencing right now is normal. sources in the senate say they've been deeply worried about senator mccain lately, not speaking up at meetings the way he certainly used to. let's go to our chief medical correspondent. you still practice. treat patients with this type of brain cancer. only reporter given permission to speak with senator mccain's doctors at the time of his diagnosis. so what do you make of this late development? >> well, you know, five months now since his diagnosis. and when someone is having

difficu difficulties, we don't know what they are, if he's having headaches, weakness, what the side effects are. a few things you think about. has the tumor, in this case the brain tumor started to regrow. is this just side effects from his treatment as the statement from his office said. or is it some combination of both. what the statement said these are normal side effects from his therapy. what that typically means is for example if someone is getting radiation therapy, that's designed to basically kill whatever remaining cancer cells may be there in the brain. that's a good thing. but the problem is it can also cause swelling of the brain, particularly in that area. and that can make someone feel really unwell, cause these sorts of side effects. that's typically what the hospitalization is for to try and treat the side effects from the medication that's being giv given for the tumor. >> how long does that continue?

the treatment, whether chemotherapy or radiation, i think he had some surgery as well, how long does that go on? >> it can go on for months. you are right, the operation was first thing. it was done back in july. they didn't know it was a tumor, wolf, you may remember before they hospitaled they just saw blad collection then found the tumor underneath that. but the combination of chemotherapy and radiation can go on for months. and as tough as it is to talk about, the average survival, this is when you look at everybody, is around 14 months. survival. even with therapy. so those are -- it's tough to even talk about that. but that is the reality that he's sort of facing. >> so will all the side effects he's going through, and he's over at the walter reid military medical center outside of washington, will that effect his ability to work, and more specifically next week maybe even vote on the tax bills? >> if this is side effects due to his therapy, as again his

statement from his office said, what you could see is you could actually see a significant improvement. because there are medications such as steroids to really bring down that swelling in the brain. you can't give those steroids long-term or in the high doses he may need, but what you could see is up and down course. he may improve significantly, in fact, with those types of medications, because it just shrinks the swelling of the brain down. it's not solving the problem, but it could make him feel much better, at least for a period of time. >> some people do survive these kinds of brain tumors, right? >> well, there have been somewhat i would call case reports, meaning out of thousands and thousands of patients who have had these, those patients are all followed. there are have been a few here and there, we are not sure they had the right diagnosis, but it can happen. and certainly can say one thing after his operation i talked to

his doctors and they were saying, look, senator mccain should stay put for a couple of weeks, not travel. you'll remember a few days later he was in washington. so he does recover quickly and fights hard. >> we wish senator mccann only the best. he is a true american hero and we hope he gets through this struggle right now. and comes back to the u.s. senate early and often. s thank you very much. we'll stand by for the press briefing. and omarosa goes on the record and on the defense about her sudden exit from the white house. uh oh...a painful sore throat? not now. take cépacol instamax. look! unlike regular cough drops it contains 2 max strength pain relievers and cools in seconds. bye bye sore throat. take cépacol instamax.

within ten dpays of taking office president trump issued executive order instructing the office of management and budget to remove two regulations for every new one created. washington scoffed but the administration acted and under a year we have unleashed job creations. these efforts and the rest of the president's agenda have fueled economic growth including all-time highs in the stock market, 17 year low in unemployment, new highs in consumer confidence and much more. as the president said yesterday we are historic stages that will

provide massive relief to families, lower tax rates to make us more competitive and make our tax code simpler and fairer for the first time in decades. i want to begin lowering the tax bills in americans paychecks starting next year where americans who face economic head winds will have the wind at their backs as they seek the american dream. with that, we'll get started because we are on a short time frame and i'll take your questions. jonathan. >> sarah, on the tax, what is the president's messages to those americans including the middle class who will face tax increases under the tax bill? >> look, our focus since day one is aggressively push as many americans as possible get a tax break, particularly those in the middle class. that's going to continue to be our focus as we continue in this process, as i've said time and time again. >> but the message to those that face increase, every analysis show some people, including middle class americans, are going to face an increase. >> ove